Hunting Her (The Keeping Her #6) (8 page)

She
hissed at him again, which he found strange since her animal to call was a
coyote not one of the cats, thank fuck.

"You
gonna calm down any time soon?" he asked mildly enough, which had her
narrowing her eyes at him again.

"
Calm
down
?" She asked the question as if he had just insulted her race,
parentage, and religious affiliation all in one. 

She
looked like she was going to bite him, hard, and not in the sexy way he would
have liked.  Then a second later her face was wiped clear of expression and she
changed.  He watched it happen in a second and had to blink at the difference. 
It was as if his mate had disappeared and a completely different woman stood
before him.

"That
was creepy," he heard Cleo mutter, and she was not wrong.  He noted
absently that Lucas shifted to stand between Miley and the threat.  Eli went
wired in readiness and even Ian said not a word.  In fact, it was so quiet, so
suddenly, he would not have been surprised to watch a tumble weed roll by.  Not
a man in that courtyard, barring possibly Liam, would miss that there was a
dangerous predator among them.

He
wasted not a second more on thoughts of the others.  His attention had narrowed
with pinpoint accuracy on his mate.  He studied her eyes, her expression, the
way she stood perfectly still.  She had definitely gone cold.  An icy, all
business cold that reminded him of how she had looked right before she took out
three men with an expanding steel baton.  A baton, which she used with the
proficiency of someone who had one hidden upon her person at all times. 
This
was not good.

"Xena?"
he asked carefully,
moving slowly forward until he was close enough to grab her if he needed to,
not that he was going to touch her when she looked like that if he could help
it, she'd probably rip his arm off.  "Darlin'?"

A long
second passed, he saw her take a breath, and then all of the coldness seeped
away again as fast as she had pulled it up, and she gave him a half smile that
had not a small amount of satisfaction. 
What the hell?

"There,"
she said, and actually reached up and patted him on the cheek.  "I'm
calm
. 
Feel better?"  She smirked at him and then turned and sashayed her fine
ass toward the house, with obvious attitude added to her already sassy walk. 
She walked right by the rest of the pack, including Lucas Gibbs, who owned the
place, and went into the house, leaving the rest of them watching her go in
silence.

Her
switch had lasted seconds, and she had done absolutely nothing but stand there,
and still, everybody had felt the change.  And everybody knew she could be
dangerous when provoked.  Message delivered. 
Damn, she is good.

"Wow,"
Miley said watching the door close behind his mate just like everyone else.

It broke
the silence and everyone took a breath.

"I
have got to get me one of those,
"
Ian exclaimed, his eyes still on
the closed door, looking slightly glassy.  "She is
smokin' hot
."

"Please. 
As if you could handle a woman like that," His sister rolled her eyes with
the statement, expressing beyond a doubt what she thought of her brother’s
chances.  Neither of them were wrong.  Xena was fuckin' hot, and if Ian tried
to handle her, he would find himself minus a hand.  He'd take care of it
himself, if Xena didn't.

"I'd
sure give it a try," Eli murmured with appreciation, his eyes also on the
now vacant doorway.  He looked at Logan.  "Think she might be worth the
effort."

"Not
sure that's a woman any man
handles
," Lucas Gibbs spoke to the
others, but his eyes were on Logan, a hint of humor peeking through.  Almost
identical to his son Ian in looks, he was the bigger, scarier, harder version,
and with that look in his eye, he resembled the Viking his mate occasionally
accused him of being.

Logan
let his slow smile return, which had disappeared when his mate went cold.  This
one had a hint of bite to it and he knew his eyes glittered with the spark of a
new hunt.  Lucas saw it and raised a brow, then smiled.

Eli
caught it as well and grinned.  "Sure you're up for it?"

"What
do you think?" Logan let his resolve show in his eyes.

Before
Eli could answer with whatever mischief was sparking in his eyes, Miley
interrupted him. 

"If
you all are through pounding your chests with big meaty fists, can we go meet
Logan's mate?"  She glared at all of them, including her mate, who stood a
good foot and a half of solid muscle over her soft curvy frame.

"Seriously,"
Cleo grumbled, standing pressed close into Shawn's side, shaking her head at
the other men in her pack.  Then she glared straight at her brother.  "And
tone it down Ian, before she twists your head off your neck, and I laugh and
laugh."

Logan
turned and headed for his mate, leaving the rest of them to whatever the fuck.
He smiled a little thinking of his packs squabbling behind him over his mate. 
Xena had made an impression.

Xena
stood inside the doors of the Lionsgate home and wondered what she should do
with herself now that she made her grand entrance.

Coffee
would be good,
she
thought, and headed across the great open space towards the smell of cooking
food.  She supposed they all would be wary of her now.  She shrugged away the
thought as she started really looking around. 

The
massive furniture would have dwarfed a building less spread out; here it looked
comfortable and proportional. Brown leathers, ironwork, and natural woods
blended well with the rock fireplace she could have stood in easily.  Dark wood
beams above.  Like the outside it was a mix of rustic and modern, she could see
the kitchen in the distance and had to wonder just how many square feet the
house sported.  But the main thing that drew her eyes were the large windows
and the view beyond.  Rolling grapevines, and sweeping vistas on one side and
on the other, trees and wild places.  There was a pool, she noticed appreciatively. 
Here and beyond the courtyard next to the clubhouse.

Very
nice.

She made
it across the great room and beyond that, a massive wood kitchen table with
benches along both sides and armchairs at each end.  Everything was made with
large men in mind, but that didn’t mean it lacked elegance.  The flowers in the
center of the table and the place settings all shouted taste, and the money to
do something about it.

The
kitchen was gourmet and state of the art full of stainless steel appliances and
custom wood cabinets, with accents of the same natural stone and dark woods as
the rest of the great room.  The only thing that seemed out of place was the
woman standing in it.

Jeans
and a t-shirt over a compact sturdy body. Narrow hips and bony arms detracted
nothing from the sense of strength she exuded when you looked her in the eye. 
Which was what Xena was doing now that the woman had noticed her. Her brown
eyes were shrewd and assessing.  She was a shifter by her scent, but like Xena,
hers seemed to be buried too deep to identify the animal.

"You
the new girl?" she asked bluntly, her voice blunt to the point of rude.

"Sure,"
Xena answered with a half-smile.  "You the old girl?"

The
woman snorted, looking amused instead of offended.  "Name's Bernie, I run
this place."  She continued to study Xena with an arch look.  "You
always dress so fancy?"

Xena
smiled fully this time, showing her teeth.  "Unless I'm planning on
getting blood on my clothes."

Bernie
tipped her head and then nodded.  "Good," the woman finally answered
with a dismissive snort.  "I don't do serious stain removal.  Just wash
and fold."  Then with that bizarre information she went back to her
cooking, which Xena could now see was actually baking, as she had a rolling pin
over what was probably going to be biscuits judging by the ingredients spread
around her.

"Biscuits?"

The woman
looked up at her again while she continued to roll the dough.  "You
bake?" 

Since
the tone was clearly doubtful, Xena crossed her arms and cocked her hip. 
"I bake," she answered, with a hint of challenge in the words. 
"You think because I like pretty clothes I can't know my way around a
kitchen?"

The old
woman narrowed her eyes.  "I'm not talking about popping open an aluminum
can and slapping some dough on a pan."

Xena
narrowed her eyes at the old bag.  "I bet my biscuit recipe is better than
yours."

The woman
took in a long breath and gripped the rolling pin tight in her fist. 
"What did you say to me?"

"I
said," Xena reiterated, pronouncing the words sharply.  "My biscuits
are better than yours."

The
woman turned from the massive kitchen island and slapped the rolling pin
against her palm sending up a puff of flour cloud for good measure.  Then she
smiled, a real one this time and actually cackled out a laugh. "Care to
put your money where your mouth is fancy pants?"

Xena
laughed as well, then turned to look at Logan and the rest of the Lionsgate
pack that had come in and were watching them silently from the great-room. 
"I need to change so I can bake with cranky pants here, where's my
luggage?"

Logan
looked at her with absolutely no expression on his face.  "You need your
luggage?" he asked as if he could not believe the question.

She
tipped her head and gave him impatient eyes.  "Yeah, I'm not ruining my
favorite outfit by wearing it while I make biscuits."  She ran her hand
down the supple slide of leather over her hips and his eyes followed the move
intently. 

Then he
shook himself out of it and looked back at her face.  "You want to change
so you can bake biscuits with Bernie."  He said it like a statement of
fact that made no sense to him.

Xena
turned and looked back at the older baker.  "You Bernie?"

"Yep."

Xena
turned back to Logan and answered his question on a smile.  "Yep."

Logan
shook his head and turned to motion behind him.  "Lucas Gibbs, Miley Rose,
Eli Ramsey, meet Xena Yazzie, my mate."  Then he walked right past them. 
Passing Shawn and Cleo last as they had come in after the others.  "I'll
bring your bag in so you can
bake
with
Bernie." 
His
emphasis on Bake and Bernie were clear, as was the smile that was now on his
face.  Xena shrugged, waved at the pack that was before her and smiled. 
"Hey."

"Hey,"
the woman, Miley said sounding, and looking like she was choking on laughter. 
She cleared her throat.  "Nice to finally meet you."

Xena
studied the woman, her eyes, her tone, the way she was standing and realized
she was sincere so she smiled back.  "Nice to meet you too."

"So
you bake?"

Xena
lost her smile and sighed.  "Why is that always such a surprise?"

***

Since no
one wanted to piss off either woman the bake off was considered a tie.  But it
must be said, Logan thought.  Both women made some delicious southern biscuits,
and Bernie’s beef stew showcased them nicely. 

Sitting
around the big table with a large number of his pack around him sharing a good
meal, had always meant something.  With his mate beside him, it meant more. 

"So
Xena, where did you learn to bake?"  Miley asked smiling in pleasure as
she dribbled honey on her third biscuit.

"Until
I shifted for the first time I lived with my mom and grams.   Grams liked to
work in the kitchen, and she passed down recipes from both her mother’s mother
who was from China, and her father’s mother who was fourth generation American
by way of Africa, and cooked straight southern comfort food."

Logan
heard the wistfulness in her words, not sure anyone else did, and he looked
over to catch her eye and try to decipher where it was coming from.  But she
was concentrating on her stew. 

“The
obvious Native American is on your father’s side?” Miley asked softly.

Xena
nodded once.

"You
said until you shifted," Lucas rumbled out in his low voice.  "What
about after?"

"Then
my mother went looking for my father, and I stayed with his family after
that."  Her words had turned clipped, not angry, just matter of fact.

Logan
looked up and found everyone had eyes on his mate.  "Your father’s people
were Native American?  Did you live on a reservation?"

She
snorted.  "My father's people were Cherokee nation and Coyote shifters by
blood yes, but besides a dedication to keeping the bloodlines as pure as
possible they had strayed as far from life on the reservation as money could
take them."  Her voice was without inflection.  "I learned other
things from them."

Logan
watched his mate but all her attention was on her food.  She was not looking up
to meet anyone's eyes, and Logan had to wonder at the change between talking
about one family to the next.  He shook his head when it looked like Miley was
going to say something, and she turned and looked at her mate instead, shifting
the conversation and focus in another direction.  "Anyone heard from Demon
and Clytie?"

Eli
snorted.  "No, and I don't guess we will until after they get back from
their honeymoon.  They might not head for the island for another few days but
from what Ben says Demon is keeping Clytie in his bed as much as possible in
the meantime."

Logan
smiled at the thought of Demon married.  "Sorry I missed the wedding,' he
said meaning it.  Then he smiled.  "Who would have thought it?  Demon
married."

"Well,"
Miley said smiling at him and Xena beside him.  "I think he understands
why you were away."

"Doubt
he noticed one way or the other anyone but Clytie was there," Eli said
with a snort.  Then Eli waggled his brow at Xena.  "And one cannot say
hunting hottie is not a worthy endeavor."

Logan
felt his good mood evaporating but it was Lucas who warned the man with a mild
"Eli." That shut the other man up.  After that, they talked about the
wedding and he watched Xena watch them all, a small half smile creeping over
her face as they talked about people she had never met and shared antidotes
about the wedding that had them all chuckling. It was a good day, made even
more so by having his mate at his side.

But now
lunch was over, the kitchen, which Xena insisted on helping clean, despite loud
and venomous complaints from Bernie, to which Xena said flatly.  "Button
it cranky pants.  I bake.  I clean up.  Period."

Hearing
her argue with the one woman even Ian did not mess with had them all looking a
bit awed by his mate.  Hearing her, all it made him want to do was drag her off
to his bed and stake his claim irrefutably.

Unfortunately,
they had less pleasurable things to discuss.  As soon as Xena joined them in
the great room, he gave everyone, including the young lions the bare bones of
the problem.  Eli already had the information and had been running his checks
so they waited for him to add what he had learned.  Which was not much in the
short amount of time he had.  But this was Eli, and it was about Xena's safety
so Logan was disappointed anyway.

"That's
it?"    You traced it to numerous dummy addresses and then nothing?"

"Not
nothing," Eli glared at him in affront.  "I'm following the string
where it leads, this just happens to be a long fucking string, so it takes
time.  I'll have this bastard eventually."

"Meanwhile
they are firebombing hotels to try and kill my mate and we have no clue who is
behind it, other than they have connections at the shifter council."  He
muttered in disgust.  Eli tried to reassure him, which had him growling.  Lucas
gave him a warning look, while Miley looked at him with open concern. 
"They have tried to kill her more than once,” he said low.  “They will
keep trying until we find them.”

Xena,
who had been standing by the window, walked over and sat down on his lap as if
she did it every day catching him completely by surprise.  He wrapped his arms
around the softness sitting in his lap automatically, and his eyes went right
to hers.

"Feel
that?" she asked mildly and shifted a bit, so that her soft ass rubbed
across his lap.  He nodded.  He could definitely feel that.  His eyes narrowing
and on hers he tried to figure out what she was up to this time.  "I'm
fine.  Your friend is on it. You're supposed to be the cool head of this group,
so chill the fuck out."

Logan
took in a deep breath, scenting his mate, and feeling her warm heat safe in his
arms, he tried to find the leash for his emotions he had never needed before. 
No wonder everyone was looking at him funny.  This was not like him at all.  He
blew out a fast breath, looked at Eli, and spoke by way of apology.  "This
has me on a thin fucking edge."

"I get
that," Eli answered, and slowly the smile bloomed on his face while he
studied Xena in Logan’s lap.  She had changed into jeans and a designer t-shirt
when she dressed down for the kitchen, and her feet were bare.  Her hair was up
in a high ponytail to keep it out of the way of her baking and she had flour in
her sleek black hair.  "Might also be a flaming asshole if I found myself
in the same situation."

Logan
snorted and Lucas raised a brow at Eli.

"No
‘might’ about that," Shawn muttered from where he sat beside Cleo on the
loveseat.  "You passed asshole at puberty."

Eli
glared at him, but before he could make the comment he so clearly wanted to
make Miley spoke up fast. 

"So
what is the next step?"  She hurried on when she saw she had their
attention.  "Obviously you stay here until Eli locates the source, but
surely there is more to do?"

"We're
not staying here," his mate said, before Logan could say a word and he
froze beneath her.  "Too good a chance we could bring the problem to your
doorstep.”

"What?" 
Miley looked affronted, and Logan spoke before that stubborn look could settle
over her pretty face.

"We're
going to my ranch."  Logan said leaving no room for argument.  It's more
isolated and easier to defend."  Miley closed the mouth she had just
opened.  "We'll lay low while Eli tracks the source of the e-mail."